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I'm polishing up my piece this week with fine-tuning of dynamics and then will work on dealing with the dreaded red-dot!

_________________________XVIII-XXXVIIFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

Don't panic, but it's one month until the 29th ABF Recital goes live (Feb 15), and two weeks until the submission period begins (Feb 1).

Too late ... already in panic mode. I had a feeling this would be coming out soon and so, time to shift into high gear. I'm not in too bad of shape, but definitely more rehearsal is in order. Let alone facing the red dot.

Monica! Where have you been? Haven't heard from you for awhile here. You've been keeping a "low profile"...

Were you in the witness protection program or just on sabbatical from PianoWorld?

Thought maybe you had reverted back to your prior instrument of choice and where now cruising over in AccordianWorld

LOL. No, I have merely discovered the truth that tens of millions of women already knew: Being a stay at home mom leaves one with less disposable time during the day than having a desk job. It seems that back when I was employed and spent all day in an office with easy access to the internet, I could jot off a quick post here and there with no difficulty. Nowadays I'm spending most of my time being a member of the sandwich generation (taking care of two kids who are busy with homework and extracurriculars, not to mention dealing with my 93 year old father in law who has Alzheimer's) and not nearly enough time goofing off on the internet or--worse yet--playing piano. Hence the panic attack about the upcoming recital.

Holy schmokes this one caught me offguard. Same as it did last year at this time. The thing is, if you're one of the habitual early bird submitters because you want to be higher up on the list...(guilty!), you only have 2 weeks left before gates open.

[Insert STRESS here!].

Even MORE stress if you have absolutely nothing in the works but still find you MUST be one of the early bird submitters.

Holy schmokes this one caught me offguard. Same as it did last year at this time. The thing is, if you're one of the habitual early bird submitters because you want to be higher up on the list...(guilty!), you only have 2 weeks left before gates open.

[Insert STRESS here!].

Even MORE stress if you have absolutely nothing in the works but still find you MUST be one of the early bird submitters.

[New years goal.....handle self imposed stress better!].

I've only been near the beginning (10th I think) once...it is quite exciting to know folks are likely to listen to you the first day --- but on the other hand I've noticed that a lot of folks are getting really creative about how they go about their listening and commenting! You never know when your piece will be heard!

BTW... I think I've already picked out my piece for MAY lol.

_________________________XVIII-XXXVIIFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

I've been consumed now for 3 nights with a new song that just dropped out of the sky into my lap - (I honestly didn't ask for this.) I had to learn to sing and play while discovering that it's not as hard as it seems - and that my vocal range just ain't all I thought it was. (or used to be) So it really is harder than it seems.

Not a lot of time to learn how to sing, tie up the loose transitions, fill in the lyrics, and figure out how to record it.

And my piano needs to be tuned.

Luckily I have 4 pieces (not songs ) on reserve ready to be recorded - if I get a chance to - or a tuned piano - or a sore throat. (ahem)

I hope to have my recording done this weekend. I probably just jinxed myself by saying that! I seem to be able to play the piece without mistakes until I turn on the recorder. I have two pieces ready to record, and hopefully one of them will make it to the recital.

...Nowadays I'm spending most of my time being a member of the sandwich generation (taking care of two kids who are busy with homework and extracurriculars, not to mention dealing with my 93 year old father in law who has Alzheimer's) and not nearly enough time goofing off on the internet or--worse yet--playing piano.

I think I understand - my 96 year old mother lives with us - was born during WWI - fortunately, so far she has most of her health and wits about her - spends most of her time watching pro football (Ravens) and major league baseball (Nationals) and cheering (or swearing) vociferously at her big screen TV - she's going so well I think I may be in a nursing home before she is - Thinks my piano playing is "nice", but then she's 95% deaf

_________________________
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Frederic Chopin

Well, I've my piece ready to do a proper record. I don't have practicing in the last weeks (my mother in law died in the 1st day of the year, and I've been giving some support to my sad wife), but I think I can do a record in time to participate in this recital.

Well, I've my piece ready to do a proper record. I don't have practicing in the last weeks (my mother in law died in the 1st day of the year, and I've been giving some support to my sad wife), but I think I can do a record in time to participate in this recital.

Condolences Carlos - my mother-in-law passed away on 2 January last year - it is a sad way to begin a new year. I hope you manage to record a piece, it is always a pleasure to listen to your music

_________________________XVIII-XXXVIIFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

I've been consumed now for 3 nights with a new song that just dropped out of the sky into my lap - (I honestly didn't ask for this.) I had to learn to sing and play while discovering that it's not as hard as it seems - and that my vocal range just ain't all I thought it was. (or used to be) So it really is harder than it seems.

Not a lot of time to learn how to sing, tie up the loose transitions, fill in the lyrics, and figure out how to record it.

And my piano needs to be tuned.

Luckily I have 4 pieces (not songs ) on reserve ready to be recorded - if I get a chance to - or a tuned piano - or a sore throat. (ahem)

This should be good.

_________________________
Only in men's imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life. -Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski

I'm working on a beautiful tune from the Broadway stage but I keep changing the arrangement (I have a nasty habit of doing this), which is not highly conducive to the goal of getting it recorded...

If in the end (or "at the end of the day" as the politicians always say) I'm not satisfied - either with the arrangement or the recording or both - I may submit a lively and lovely Christmas song that I started work on before then but just got a good take on - late for this season, yes (or way early for next), but what can one do? "Kick the can down the road" to the next Recital?

Trap

Edited to add: GO RAVENS!

Edited by TrapperJohn (01/21/1306:52 AM)

_________________________
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Frederic Chopin